Main board: Zwei Häuser - Zwei Welten ; Two Houses - two Worlds

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A story about the struggles for religious freedom

The book tells the story of the two neighboring families Habegger and Ledermann. It begins in 1725 in the Emmental. Two worlds clash when Anneli Ledermann from a simple Anabaptist family and Hans from the wealthy Reformed and military-friendly Habegger family fall in love. On the basis of a tragically ending love affair, basic features of Anabaptism in the Emmental and the Jura are illustrated. The novel focuses on the suffering of the Anabaptists from persecution, penances, ridicule and banishment.

With this novel – wrapped in a Romeo and Juliet story – the author, a pastor in Grossaffoltern, arouses understanding and interest in the history of Anabaptist suffering in 18th century Emmental. The secondary scenes with well-known places in the Jura Mountains such as Bellelay, Graitery, Dachsfelden (Tavannes) appear like peaceful places of refuge.

An Anabaptist gathering:

The service lacked any pomp, any means that should have intentionally affected the senses. And yet, an impartial spectator would have received deep impressions. Uli Wüthrich spoke in a weak, somewhat nasal voice. His speech lacked any artistic embellishment. He led his people through the passion of the Anabaptists. Why should he shout and scream? The facts he brought forward cried out to heaven! Why should he raise or lower his voice in the manner of a proper orator, provide for variety and effect by sound colors? The situation of the persecuted heap had been for centuries always the same unhappy, monotonously bleak! Monotonous, therefore, should also be the lecture that dealt with these sad stories. Of course, the preacher treated his subject with brusque one-sidedness. The shrewd balancing that spreads the blame on both sides of the struggle was not his cup of tea. He did not stand as an learned researcher, but as an advocate of depressed and frightened people.^[1]

The Anabaptists in the Jura Mountains:

Ledermann had had to leave his old homeland as a poor exile. His property had been confiscated by the authorities. But his enemies could not rob him of his soul. Along with the great traits of his nature and character, he retained the same qualities of a good nature, the sense of order and cleanliness, the peculiar understanding and skill for the cultivation and care of the soil. From the Graiton, which had previously been an overgrown mountain forest, he had soon created a small paradise. Even if the low Jura house with its simple rough masonry did not match the wonderfully carpentered wooden buildings of Emmental for a long time, it still looked quite homely with its cleanly whitewashed walls and the roof that was as finely smoothed as the daintily pleated hood of a dignified matron. The small windows were squeaky clean; the shutters hung vertically in rows; wherever one dared to look no nail was missing and no pin.^[2]
If a miller on the Birs or Doubs Rivers needed a strong steed, he gladly turned to the Anabaptist, who had a reputation for the strictest honesty. At first, the traders laughed at the half-wit, who said it freely at the market when a horse was afflicted with spavin or some other defect. Soon, however, they began to respect the quiet, unpretentious man, who proved to be an excellent expert.^[3]

^{[1] Zwei Häuser - zwei Welten, p. 92, translated.
[2] p. 172.
[3] p. 174.}